Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 12.pdf/497

 402.

fective speeches for the " Sound-money cause " and his course cost him his reelec tion to the Senate the second time. During his period of service in the United States Senate he has enjoyed the respect of the whole country, and in the discussion of all public questions he has taken an active and influential part. At the meeting of the American Bar As sociation in 1899, Judge Lindsay was se lected to deliver the principal address. His masterly discussion of the Philippine ques tion and the policy of expansion commanded great admiration and through him reflected great credit upon the State. M. H. COFEK. After the term of Chief Justice Lindsay exא pired in August, 1878, Judge W. S. Pryor for the second time became Chief Justice for two years. At the end of that time Judge Mar tin Hardin Cofer who had been elected in August, 1874, fora full term, came to the Chief Justiceship. Judge Cofer was born in Hardin County, Kentucky, on April i, 1832. His parents were persons of limited means though of excellent family. A fine legal mind was his right by inheritance, because he was de scended from a family that has given Ken tucky many of its foremost lawyers and statesmen. He was a namesake and rela tive of General Martin D. Hardin who was held in such universal esteem as a lawyer and as a man that upon his death in 1823 the Court of Appeals and the members of its bar resolved as a tribute to his virtues and integrity, to " go into mourning and wear crape on the left arm for thirty days" and also to "attend his funeral in proces sion." Early in life the future Chief Justice was thrown upon his own resources and forced to earn a living by teaching school, while trying to complete his own education. For a short time he was County Surveyor of his own county. In 1853 he married and re

moved to Illinois. In 1856 he was licensed in that State to practice law and in the same year he returned to Kentucky. For a while he edited a local paper in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, while practicing his profession. When hostilities between the North and the South commenced he went South and joining the Sixth Kentucky Regiment of the Confederate forces, he remained with it until August, 1864. He was severely wounded in the battle of Shiloh and was pro moted to the rank of Colonel for bravery on the field of battle. After the war he was in 1870 appointed Circuit Judge for his circuit to fill a vacancy in that office. He continued to hold the po sition through elections by the people until he was promoted to the Court of Appeals bench. His death which occurred on May 22, 1 88 1, while he was in office was regarded as a great public calamity. He was a clear, vigorous thinker with a natural turn for the law, and his opinions evince a depth of rea soning and a knowledge of fundamental principles that made him one of the best judges of the court. He was known as a safe and able judge, whose sendees to the State could poorly be spared. JOSEPH H. LEWIS.

In the month of August following the death of Chief Justice Cofer, an election was held to fill the vacancy, and General Joseph H. Lewis, of " Orphan's Brigade " fame was chosen for the place. He assumed the duties of Chief Justice on September I, 1881, and he was reëlected in August 1882, and again in August, 1890. When his last term expired, he declined to offer for re election. He served, in all, seventeen years in the Court of Appeals and prior to that he had served one year as Circuit Judge. Judge Lewis was born in Barren County, Kentucky, on October 29, 1824. He is still living in the enjoyment of the ripened honors of his long and useful life. His